About South Surrey Athletics

South Surrey Athletics is run by Don Allemeersch. Don is an athlete, as well as a professional trainer. Holding gold medals in the discus and the shotput at the world firefighter games 2010, Don knows what it takes to train for success. Though working as a firefighter with the City of Prince George, Don has obtained his training as a peer to peer trainer.

A continued interest in health has led Don to constantly expand his knowledge in areas of nutrition and physical health.

Dick Hartzell, inventor of the FlexBands®, has always felt that part of strength training should be done dynamically. One day, during his coaching years, two of his players got injured while trying to train quickly with weights. Coach Hartzell thought there had to be a better way to do this, maybe with rubber. A couple years later, Coach Hartzell left teaching and coaching to develop the idea. Within three months, he had the product - a combination of bands and a platform base for doing squats and four other lifts. Two years later the US Patent Office granted his patent.

After working from his home for several years, Coach Hartzell and his family now run successfully from its home base in Youngstown, Ohio, which also features the world's first all-rubberband gym.